Versailles, seat of the British negotiating delegation, Palace of Marly.
"Prime Minister Robinson, Chancellor Palmerston, Brigadier General Elliot, my Naya father said that if the British Empire feels that the 10 million tons of shipbuilding quota is too high and there is no money to build it... he can also consider giving it to the British Empire. Reduce the burden on the empire. The Ming Dynasty is not short of money, so they can build more, either 4 million tons or 5 million tons. If you in the UK don't have money, just build less. 3 million tons or 3.5 million tons is fine.
In addition, my father thinks that the defense of the Strait of Malacca should be jointly undertaken by the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire. You, the British Empire, can persuade the Kingdom of the Netherlands to hand over Sumatra Island to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty can pay for it. It is easy to negotiate for thousands or eight million, but it requires installment. "
The person who was helping Zhuge Weijiu as a lobbyist in the Marly Palace was, of course, the Duke of Marseille, the half-blood posthumous son of King Louis XVI of France. Yesterday, when Zhuge Weijiu said that he wanted to build 10 million tons of warships, he immediately made Robinson, Palmerston, and Yilu angry and ran away. Actually, it was not "angry", but the three of them had to go back and count on their fingers. After all, the British Empire still has a few pounds in its pocket to bet with Ming Dynasty!
In fact, the shipbuilding industry of the British Empire was not weak. After all, the British Empire was an island country with large overseas colonies, and it also controlled the European shipping market for a long time, which was enough to cultivate a huge shipbuilding industry.
In fact, until the age of motor and sailboats, the shipbuilding industry of the British Empire still had an overwhelming advantage over the Ming Dynasty. The situation began to change only when the age of steamships finally arrived.
After basically eliminating sails, the Europeans' lead in the sail era was basically reduced to zero. The Ming Dynasty, which led the industrial revolution, relied on its leading advantages in the fields of external combustion engines and metallurgy to catch up with latecomers, and has technically caught up with the shipbuilding industry of the British Empire.
However, thanks to the British Empire's protection of the local shipbuilding industry, and the fact that the British had already mastered the technology of coal-fired boilers and steam engines, their shipbuilding industry could still overwhelm the Ming Dynasty in scale in the era of coal-fired steam engines.
But now the shipbuilding industry is experiencing another power revolution! This revolution is composed of two parts. One is the replacement of coal by fuel oil - oil-fired boilers and diesel engines are replacing coal-fired boilers! The second is that the steam engine was replaced by a steam turbine - although it just added the word "wheel", the efficiency was much higher.
Because the British Empire was "poor in oil", it was completely backward in technologies such as oil-fired boilers, diesel engines, and gasoline engines.
And because their steam turbines started relatively late, they are also not as good as Daming. Daming has now completed the development of a direct-drive steam turbine with a single output power of more than 13,000 horsepower. Its civilian version (power generation) has been put into use, and the military version is also being tested!
The UK can now only produce a single steam turbine with an output of 700 horsepower, which can only be used on speedboats for the time being. The most advanced power system used by their large surface ships is still a coal-fired boiler plus a triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine. However, by burning coal and using a three-expansion reciprocating steam engine, tens of thousands of horsepower can be produced. Historically, the first "dreadnought ship" of the German Empire, the Nassau, also used coal-fired boilers and three-expansion reciprocating steam engines, and still produced a main engine power of 22,000 horsepower.
Therefore, the British shipbuilding industry can still compete with the Ming Dynasty in the "10-million-ton race", but the problem is that Great Britain does not have enough pounds. These days, all currencies are redeemable, not paper money that can be used casually. If you really want to use it casually... then it will become waste paper!
In addition, the bigger trouble is that Britain's industrial scale can no longer sustain this "10-million-ton race." The struggle between Great Britain and the Ming Dynasty for "tens of millions of tons" is a bit like the arms race between Mao Xiong and Mi Di in history. The Midea family has a great cause, and is surrounded by a large circle of industrialized powers as its little brother. It can use its strength to injure people and build armaments to seduce the bears. In order to catch up with the United States in terms of armaments, Mao Xiong can only concentrate its resources on military industry. This is actually a wartime system.
The wartime system can only be implemented once during wartime. How can we afford to do it every day?
Now if Great Britain insists on engaging in a "10-million-ton race", it will have no choice but to shift its economy into wartime!
But if you don't follow, continue to admit defeat at the Versailles Naval Conference, give up the crown of the world's largest navy to the Ming Dynasty, and cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to annex the Dutch island of Sumatra... Then what will the Western countries think of Britain?
Great Britain is not the number one in industry or population, it has also lost the number one in navy, and it keeps ceding land to the Ming Dynasty (it also ceded land to the Netherlands!), what else can this big brother do?
"Prime Minister, we must not compromise with the Ming Empire! If we compromise this time, the sunset of the Empire will not be far away!"
When the lobbyist Duke of Marseilles sent Robinson away with vague words, Lord Palmerston, the Lord Admiralty, immediately gave the firmest opinion!
Prime Minister Robinson looked at the resolute Admiralty Minister, frowned and said: "But do you know how much the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan will cost? Can we... have a way to raise so many pounds? Even if Can the British Empire come up with this money and can the House of Commons agree? Can the factory aristocrats (referring to the Whigs) and London bankers support the cabinet’s fundraising requirements?”
"Prime Minister!" Viscount Palmerston saw Prime Minister Robinson wavering and immediately said to him firmly, "It is precisely because of the factory aristocrats and London bankers that I firmly oppose concessions... Don’t you remember why those factory owners and bankers abandoned the Netherlands and immigrated to England? Didn’t they take a fancy to England’s superior geographical location and powerful army and navy, which were enough to protect their interests from feudalism on the European continent? Violated by the monarch? What they want is a strong England, not an England that only knows how to give in before the Eastern Empire. If England is no longer strong, can't their money leave England?"
"Leave England? Why?" Robinson frowned and looked at Viscount Palmerston, "Our homeland is very safe."
"Why? Because we are losing a competition for world hegemony..." Viscount Palmerston said, "Napoleon lost... What has become of France? Earlier Spain and the Netherlands They also lost, what will become of them now? If our Empire on which the Sun Never Sets loses, do you think we will not be punished and still maintain the glory and wealth of the Empire?"
Robinson trembled, "Then, where will they go?"
"Maybe go to France!" Viscount Palmerston said, "Louis XVII and the Duke of Marseille have good relations with the Ming Dynasty. Their Bourbon dynasty has just received the Suez Canal stocks and large areas of land in the Rhineland from the Zhuge family... ...That's all land in the coal fields! Zhuge Weijiu did this not because he was afraid that we would confiscate the property of the Zhuge family during the war, nor because of his special relationship with the Queen Mother of France, Louis XVII, and the Duke of Marseille Friendship, but to show everyone Ming's support for France! Once Great Britain loses her glory, Paris will replace London as the financial center of Europe, and the Ruhr region, Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Belgium, and It will become an industrial center under the patronage of France, sucking away the factories that belong to us in England. What will be left of Great Britain without its banks, factories, India and Australia, and the colony of Malacca?"
"But we simply don't have the financial and industrial strength to compete with Ming Dynasty in shipbuilding...and the House of Commons will not agree to the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan!" Robinson glanced at George Yi, who was counting his fingers beside him. Law, "George, have you done the math? How much will 10 million tons cost?"
"Okay," Yilu said, "the initial estimate is that it will cost 1 billion to 1.2 billion pounds!"
"We only have an annual income of 140 million pounds!" Robinson gritted his teeth. "Is it possible for Parliament to approve such a huge military expenditure project?"
Viscount Palmerston smiled slightly, "Prime Minister, actually... we don't need to go through parliament!"
"Not through parliament? We are in the UK!"
Viscount Palmerston nodded and said: "If we plan to spend the last rupee of the British Empire on the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan, we do not need the consent of the United Kingdom Parliament!"
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Chapter 181 The last rupee of the British Empire! Free to read.
